No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My most anticipated book for the Love in the Night Readathon was No Rest for the Wicked. This is the third book in Kresley Cole's immensely popular Immortals After Dark series. This covered the remaining prompt Bite Me as well as Unique Paranormal, Eat Her Out and Diving Deep. For Fall In Love this worked perfect for the prompt Romance Series with 3+ Books. For Color Me Romantic I applied this to the Red prompt (passionate or intense character). Also I used this for Bang in the Night for the prompt Full Moon on the Cover or Stepback. I chose Anytime (I'll Be There) by Frank Sinatra from his Reprise Rarities Volume 4 album for the theme song.

Sebastian was turned into a vampire against his will by his brother when he was dying. Since he was free to leave his brother's oversight, he's been alone and brooding. Sebastian has always always felt separated from those around him, even as a human. When Kaderin shows up at the request of the local village to take care of the "nearby vampire," she is stunned to find Sebastian not fighting for his life and allowing her to make the killing blow uncontested. When he bloods her, Kaderin starts to feel feelings for the first time in centuries. When he forces his way into a special race that happens every 10 years, he finds ways to support her whether she wants it or not.

Oh my gosh. This was so great and why did I wait so long to get back into this series? Okay, I know why. I was nervous about getting sucked into the long running series and losing time to read my "assigned" books. Back to Kaderin and Sebastian though. I absolutely adored Sebastian with all of my heart and he is definitely my favorite hero in this series so far. There was something just so endearing about him and he hit all of my buttons. He's a sexy vampire, is super protective of his lover, can get a little nasty in the bedroom and also has that awkward/not-good-with-girls vibe. He just really did it for me and is going to definitely be hard to top. No to say I didn't love Kaderin, but because the premise of her character was that she was just experiencing feelings for the first time in forever it was hard to be on her "team" at times. It was especially hard for me when she clearly didn't want to kill Sebastian, but she was also stringing him along or intentionally saying things to hurt him that I didn't like. I understand her dilemma though because she was in huge vampire wars and vampires killed her two sisters. It was just hard because I understood and got 100% why she was doing what she was doing, but the Sebastian fangirl in me just wanted to shake some sense into her.

If there was one downside for me, it would be dealing with the race. This was a fun paranormal twist on Amazing Race combined with National Treasure and I loved it! I just wanted to see more about some of the "legs" and was surprised how much time we spent with Kaderin and Sebastian during the downtime between rounds. I also wish that we saw a little bit more of the other competitors, but mostly I wanted more when we did get to go with them on a hunt for a treasure. Everything was just done super quickly for the most part and I wanted a little more for the beginning races. The specific hunt was only really drawn out if there were complications or the final one. There could've been at least one early on that was easier to complete, but there could've been a lot of steps or something. I used to be obsessed with Amazing Race though, so I'm not surprised. I do think that a couple books later on the series do deal with the race as well, so we'll see what happens!

I'm so happy to finally get back into this series and I'm hoping to get at least two more books in the series read by the end of the year (one a month). Maybe if I spread it out like that it'll help me get through it a little quicker. No matter what I definitely need to scoot Immortals After Dark up my priority list for sure. I can't wait to see who's book is next (and will wait until I start it and avoid any blurbs or spoilers as much as I can).

Have you read No Rest for the Wicked?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: No Rest for the Wicked, Kresley Cole, 5 stars, 1 day, Paperback, 356 pages, published in 2006, traditionally published

The Captive Merman's Promise by Zoey Castile

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The 2nd book I picked up for the Love in the Night Readathon was the group book, The Captive Merman's Promise by Zoey Castile. This is the 5th book in the multi-author series Peculiar Tastes. Since it was the group book, it cover most of the prompts: Unique Paranormal, Diving Deep, Eat Her Out, Toil and Trouble and New To You Author. This also worked perfectly to cover the prompts Diverse Main Character or Side Character for Fall in Love, Mint Green (Story You Found Refreshing) for Color Me Romantic and I Put a Spell on you for Bang in the Night. The theme song I chose for The Captive Merman's Promise was The Hurt Doesn't Go Away from the 3rd Volume of Frank Sinatra's Reprise Rarities.

Amada is in Scotland to meet with the Grand Master via the Shadow Market. The women in her family have been cursed, for generations, to love their significant other when there's love involved. After losing a lover of her own, she used her magic to take the entirety of the curse into herself to save future generations. It's starting to act differently than usual and is seeking his help to finally break it. When entering the Shadow Market she comes across Ronan, a merman that's been in service to the Grand Master for years. They find themselves drawn to each other and when the Grand Master isn't able to immediately convince Amada to take his deal, he grants Ronan legs to try to convince her sign the contract.

I had thought about The Little Mermaid when going into this knowing it was a merman romance, but didn't realize that it was more inspired than I knew. I thought it was cleverly done and while it didn't feel too direct as a retelling, there were enough hints to make my Disney-loving heart happy (it was my favorite movie growing up). Overall I thought this was really fun and unique and definitely worth the read. I loved getting the chance to read another mer-person romance and definitely need to try to find more; but back to The Captive Merman's Promise. What brought me down to a 4-star for this was a couple things. The main reason was I just wanted more establishment for not only the magic of this world, but also Ronan's history. I was confused on how Amada's magic worked and what she exactly did to take the curse upon herself. I was also super intrigued and wished that we got more backstory about what happened when he was a merman and not just getting into the horrible contract with the Grand Master. With the magic I was also confused on how exactly the cursed worked. I thought it was supposed to steal the life of the lover when they both were in love, but at the end it was only for the person in love with Amada. It just seemed a little odd to me.

I enjoyed my time and definitely want to look into other books by Zoey Castile. I've had her Happy Endings series on my tbr for a while, but those are contemporary. I definitely have another reason to pick them up since I enjoyed her writing style here. I almost might look into other books from this series, but being that they are by different authors I might have to check tropes and reviews first. I'm definitely intrigued though.

Have you read The Captive Merman's Promise?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Captive Merman's Promise, Zoey Castile, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 103 pages, published in 2022, indie published

My Lonely Shifter Match by Skye Alder

⭐⭐⭐

Continuing my mini-binge of books for Bang in the Night, I decided to pick up My Lonely Shifter Match by Skye Alder. This is the first book in their Love Bites Dating Agency series. If you didn't know, Skye Alder is the pseudonym for writing duo Cameron Hart and Shaw Hart. This worked perfect to cover the Bang in the Night prompt Into the Woods (takes place in a forest/woods) and I chose the theme song Everything Happens to Me from Frank Sinatra's Volume 1 of Reprise Rarities. I also used this for the Fall in Love prompt Man/Woman in Uniform and Color Me Romantic prompt Navy Blue (veteran character).

Cliff is a veteran and bear shifter. He and his three friends (and fellow veterans) bought a piece of land in the Colorado mountains and are settling down. His bear has been lonely and urging Cliff to find their mate. He decides to join the Love Bites Dating Agency and they end up finding her! Honey is human and going through a rough time. She is getting evicted and just recently lost her job when she is approached by a lady from the agency. She isn't quite sure what to think at first, but she has nothing to hold her back from travelling to meet him.

This was cute and a decent fated mates novella. I did want to see a little bit more of their relationship building. Honey gives Cliff three days to decide if she wants to stay. There is mention of them talking and getting to know each other better, but we don't really see as much of it as I would like on the page. There was some external conflict with another wolf shifter pack, but I really felt like it wasn't needed. It time away from really getting to see Honey and Cliff's growing relationship and just felt unnecessary. Then because of the situation Honey made some really stupid decisions (like running into the beginnings of a forest fire). I also thought that the decisions this other group was making was overly extreme for the situation as well as not really fitting into the shifter mentality that was established.

This was okay. If you enjoy insta-love, fated mate shifter novellas, this would probably be right up your alley. The more I read though, I've found what I require from a novella has gotten stricter. Even though they are a quick read, sometimes I feel like there are situations forced into them that really needs more length to be properly dealt with. If I'm in the mood for this type of novella though, it's nice to have another option.

Have you read My Lonely Shifter Match?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: My Lonely Shifter Match, Skye Alder, 3 Stars, 0 days, eBook, 96 pages, published in 2022, indie published

Love in the Night Wrap Up

 Last week was the most recent round of the Love in the Night Readathon! It was hosted once again by Shae, Stef, Izzy and Laura. Also added to the hosts this round was Heather! If you missed my tbr, check it out for more information, but otherwise let's just get into the books I read! They did a scavenger hunt this round, so I'll mention what clues I found in each book!

🧹 That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming
Clues: Getting Horny, Eat Her Out, New To You Author

🧹 The Captive Merman's Promise by Zoey Castile
Clues: Unique Paranormal, Diving Deep, Eat Her Out, Toil and Trouble, New To You Author

🧹 No Rest For The Wicked by Kresley Cole
Clues: Unique Paranormal, Diving Deep, Eat Her Out, Drink Me

🧹 Darkest Night by Alessa Thorn [review to come]
Clues: Eat Her Out, Toil and Trouble

I'm happy I was able to meet all the prompts and everything was a joy to read. I'm happy I actually was able to get to the group book this time as well. It's hard to pick a favorite, but it'd either be No Rest For The Wicked or Darkest Night. I loved both so much and can't wait to continue both of those series. Shae mentioned during the live show that they'll mostly like do another round in the spring/summer of next year, so I'll have to try to pay attention since I missed the previous round.

Did you participate in the Love in the Night Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Flirty Wolf by Aidy Award

⭐⭐⭐

After receiving a copy for free from Aidy Award's newletter, I decided to pick it up as a quick palate cleanser. Flirty Wolf is a short story set during her Alpha Wolves Want Curves series, but I'm not sure where it sits in the order. This worked perfect to start my Bang in the Night challenge and I used it to cover Howlin' For You (shifter romance). For Bang in the Night I have decided to choose a theme song from one of the five Reprise Rarities albums by Frank Sinatra that released in 2020 and 2021. I chose Everybody Ought To Be In Love off of Volume 3. I also used Flirty Wolf to cover Fall in Love's prompt new-to-you author and Color Me Romantic's prompt Lavender (insta-love story).

Poppy, a librarian, is headed to a charity bachelor auction to benefit not only her library, but banned books as well. When she sees Harley on stage, a man she's had a crush on, she can't believe that he would be flirty with her to get her bid. When she ends up winning his bid, she quickly finds out that he's actually a wolf shifter and they are mates.

Oh wow, this was a quick and funky little novella. I enjoyed the way that we had a werewolf hero that was into his curvy mate, but I feel like the biggest issue I had was with the development of the characters and the plot. Now this was under 100 pages. Poppy has a lot of body insecurities and I feel like with how short this was there really wasn't the time that was needed to really see her work through, or even start to work through, her confidence issues. There were a couple times where she was saying one thing but thinking something else and instead of it feeling like she was in conflict with herself, it just felt weird. Then we get the sudden reveal that most of the people in the strip club, oh that's right - the auction is being held at the local strip club, know about shifters and they assumed that Poppy does as well. She rightly freaks out, but then ends up running to the bathroom (instead of outside) where she meets a woman that has a box of donuts (yes, in the bathroom) and they become a metaphor for her life and give her the confidence to become mated to Harley. I'm sure that sounds janky and weird, but I have to tell you, the novella was janky and weird. Honestly I probably should've rated it lower, but I was feeling nice and didn't want to give it 2-stars.

Despite the disappointment I felt reading this, I wasn't expecting too much since I hadn't read Aidy Award before and this was a free novella I got from her newsletter. I am interested in checking out one of her full length books to see how that develops. I just feel like when you're going for a shorter novella and it's also something that is being marketed to readers to get interested in your books, it should be kept a little bit simpler. There is some leeway for the insta-love novellas, but if you cram too much into it and nothing really fells like it got resolved (or resolved well) then it can be hard to retain readership; at least from my experience. We'll see when I try out one of her other books.

Have you read Flirty Wolf?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Flirty Wolf, Aidy Award, 3-stars, 0 days, eBook, 91 pages, published in 2019, indie published

Love in the Night TBR

 Happy Tuesday!

As we get into October, it's time for the next round of Love in the Night! It's once again hosted by Heather, Stef, Laura, Izzy and Shae. The readathon will last from October 9th through the 15th. Instead of doing a bingo board, they opted for another scavenger hunt! Below are the items we are looking to find.

If you are lucky, you could find one book that would cover all or most of the prompts! I'll be mainly focusing on reading books that I'm planning for Bang in the Night and Fall in Love, but that will cross well with those items. I do have more options that I didn't mention in those tbrs as well, so I'll list a couple other things that I might look at picking up during the readathon!

🧹 The group book is The Captive Merman's Promise by Zoey Castile which sounds very intriguing

🧹 I've also been wanting to read April Asher's Not the Witch You Wed. The second book in the series comes out in 2023, so now would be a perfect time to pick it up!

🧹 I've also been wanting to read the fantasy romance series Mead Mishaps by Kimberly Lemming

🧹 A new release that has witchy vibes that I'm interested in is The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Not too many options, but I tried to pick ones that I was already thinking of and hoping that I haven't mentioned before. We'll see what I end up actually reading! Definitely check out all of the hosts (linked above) for more recs and information. They also have a couple instagram templates you could use.

Will you be participating in Love in the Night?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Needing one more book to finish the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo, I picked up Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter. This is the first book in the multi-author series Royal House of Shadows. It covered the remaining prompt of amnesia, but also worked perfectly for the Summer of Swoon 2nd board prompt cover model with short hair.

After the Blood Sorcerer killed Nicolai's parents and took over their realm, he was cast out. His father cursed him and his siblings with the need for vengeance. Now living as a vampiric sex slave and missing his memory, Nicolai reaches out for the one person to save him. He summons Jane, a human from the other realm (Earth). Jane has been brought across and is now masquerading as the return of Nicolai's former owner. As they escape, Jane and Nicolai struggle with finding out how to get his memory back and what Jane's route is to return to Earth. As they fall in love during their travels and experiences, things aren't quite as they seem.

This was a super fun and quick paranormal novel. I have been wanting to try Gena Showalter's books for a while now and this was a fun introduction. The way that she kept the reader also somewhat in the fog with Nicolai about his past was super fun. I enjoyed trying to figure out what exactly happened and how things went down. Jane was interesting and it was a little sad to hear how tragic her backstory was. Now, I know that a lot of the times when there's a person dealing with moving to a new world or dimension, they don't typically have an idyllic home life, but it was just so sad. Jane and her family were in a horrific car accident where she was the only one that survived, but was left temporarily paralyzed. She has gone through a lot of surgeries and is just starting to really be able to live with full function of her legs. I did like that when there were portions of time where she wasn't moving very much she talked about how her legs were starting to stiffen since she wasn't able to do her normal stretches and wasn't going to her physical therapist. Even though there was a couple scenes that discussed her mobility issues, I did wish that is was something that was more throughout the story.

Now, the four-stars is because I thought it was a little too twisty, especially with the shorter length. There were just a couple too many turns in the plot for my enjoyment. I also feel like the "curse" that Jane received was unnecessary. It just tried to add some extra tension that wasn't really needed with everything else going on. I do have to say, this definitely felt like an old school paranormal with the way it was written, which isn't a detractor for me. I just want to point it out since others might find it to feel old. Since I love early 2000s paranormals though, it felt more nostalgic to me and didn't hinder my enjoyment.

I am so happy to have finally read a Gena Showalter, but definitely want to pick up one of her full length novels. She has a lot of series I'm interested in, but I just need to pick one. My sister has read her for a while, so it's been an author I am peripherally aware of. I've also probably bought a lot of her books as presents for my sister. I think it's finally time I start to dig in to her backlist!

Have you read Lord of the Vampires?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Lord of the Vampires, Gena Showalter, 4-stars, 2 days, Paperback, 288 pages, published in 2011, traditionally published

Walking in Fire by Cathryn Cade

⭐⭐⭐

The first book I picked up for August 2022 round of the Romance Takeover Readathon - Light v. Dark is Walking in Fire by Cathryn Cade. This is the first book in her Hawaiian Heroes series and worked to cover the prompts foodie and paranormal. It also helped me by covering the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo prompt Hawaii and Summer of Swoon board 2 prompt travel/vacation romance. This also fit perfect my Yahtzee Challenge roll this month for Four-of-a-Kind!

Melia is on vacation in Hawaii after breaking up with her boyfriend (they had planned to go together). She runs into a guy who notices she's travelling alone and invites her to join his friends (two other guys and girls) to a bungalow stay in a private cove where there's snorkeling and such. Also on the boat besides one of the bungalow's caretakers is David, also known as Malu. He is accompanying the group because he's secretly investigating a potential drug drop that one of these people might be doing. He feels attracted to Melia and is intrigued by her not being the stereotypical "party girl." When one of the girls ends up being being in the forest, events start happening that threatens them all. As Malu works to figure who is behind the drug running and the beatings, he reveals to Melia that he's not quite fully human; he's the current Guardian of Pele.

Okay, I was super excited for this book and was really intrigued to see what was going to happen. First off, my summary includes the drug running and that wasn't really mentioned in the blurb I had read. Honestly, this doesn't feel like a paranormal book, but a romantic suspense. There was a lot more focus on the drugs and not the powers he gets from Pele. I don't know, it just was really disappointing. Not that I don't like romantic suspense, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. Like when you go to a restaurant and order a burger but receive a chicken sandwich. It stills taste good and fills you up, but you don't quite feel as satisfied. Outside of that, there wasn't much paranormal going on outside of Malu having powers. Even then it wasn't anything too exciting. He heals super quickly and he can call on the earth, so in the big final battle he ends up calling a rock slide. Something else happens, but we end up finding out that it was Pele, not Malu, that caused it. Even the bad guy didn't have any paranormal anything.

I also thought that this was a little too fast for me, even with this being a paranormal. I think if Cathryn Cade had explored the option of it being kind of a fated mates trope, I would've been more on board. Melia knows Malu a grand total of like 3 days and decides to offer her life to Pele to save Malu. Girl, you don't know him that well and a couple hours ago you were still freaking out about him glowing. I just felt so disappointed in a lot of ways. I am leaving my rating at 3-stars though because I was enjoying the story and writing before we got into the romantic suspense. There was some fun banter between them and I also liked the way that Malu treated Melia. This just turned out to be a romantic suspense hiding in a paranormal cover.

I'm not writing off Cathryn Cade at all, but I think if I pick up any more in this series or her other works I'm going to look at reviews and not blurbs. I just hate being done dirty like that and have lost some trust in her. Maybe it's just me, but if you are looking for a paranormal that incorporates Hawaiian mythos, I don't think this will be the book for you.

Have you read Walking in Fire?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Walking in Fire, Cathryn Cade, 3 stars, eBook, 1 day, 292 pages, published in 2017, indie published

Always Practice Safe Hex by Juliette Cross

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The 2nd book I picked up for my binge of May 24th new releases was Always Practice Safe Hex by Juliette Cross. This is the fourth book in her amazing Stay a Spell series. I was able to use this for the prompts Willow (witchy character) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge. work rivals for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo and enemies to lovers romance for Summer of Swoon.

Livvy and Gareth are tasked both work together and compete with a third person to work on a PR campaign for a good cause. After the campaign is over, one will be awarded a cash prize. As Livvy and Gareth work together, their attraction and chemistry starts to explode. Livvy is cautious, but Gareth even more so. His idea that's chosen for the campaign is about awareness for orphaned supernatural kids that get put into the human foster care system. He himself was in the foster system and has pretty big trust issues. As they get closer, Gareth finds it hard to believe that Livvy is on board and willing to be with him. Being a grim, only other grims know what kind of powers they have, and Gareth is one of the most powerful, a Grimlock. When Livvy gets targeted by a predator, Gareth finds it hard to contain his inner monster.

Wow, wow, wow. Once again Juliette Cross blows me away. One thing I love about this series is while they all feel in the same world and similar, there's also a vibe difference between the books so far. I really enjoyed learning about Grims as a whole, but also more specifically what Gareth's powers are. We also get quite a few hints about Henry and Clara (which will be the pairing for the last book). I loved getting back to the Savoie sisters and learning more about Livvy since she isn't a big side character in the previous books. It was cool to learn more about her and her style of magic as well.

Now, this is probably Juliette's steamiest book (objectively). There was a lot of chemistry between Gareth and Livvy and they certainly caught fire. However, for me this type is steam isn't as titlating. Gareth likes to tie up his partner and be more dominating. For me, that's not a kink I enjoy in real life, so it doesn't titilate really while reading. It made sense for Gareth and I loved how open Livvy was, it's just not my style. It was really well done though. All that means is Gareth is not my book-boyfriend of the series. Even though that's not my jam, I still really enjoyed this book and all the hints leading to the final two books were a lot of fun. I also loved that we got see Isadora and Devraj got engaged as well as Evie and Mateo eloping and being pregnant (and giving birth) to their triplets!

Another great entry to the series and Juliette's backlist! I cannot wait for what Juliette writes next, both in this series and in general. She's one of my favorite authors and if you haven't read her before, definitely give her a try! Stay a Spell is a great place to start!

Have you read Always Practice Safe Hex?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Always Practice Safe Hex, Juliette Cross, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 379 pages, published in 2022, indie published

The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate by Cate C. Wells

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After bingeing through a lot of contemporary romance at the end of February, I needed a change of pace. Since I was able to fully mood read, I decided to pick up The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate by Cate C Wells. This is the first book in her Five Packs series (and the second book comes out in April). I used this for the prompt "the" in the title for Love Has Sprung.

After werewolf Una was injured as a young child, she has been relegated to the edge of the pack. Her injuries were so severe that her wolf magic couldn't properly heal her all the way. Even though she's in her mid-twenties, she still has not been able to shift into her wolf despite sensing her. When she suddenly enters heat and ends up shifting for the first time, it's due to the fact that she has suddenly recognized Killian, the alpha, as her mate. When he rejects her in front of the whole pack, Una ends up asking the witch of the pack to remove the mate bond. When Killian starts to experience and feel the mating pull himself, he has to go about setting things right with Una and fixing the way things are done in the pack.

Oh my gosh, I went into this book pretty blind. I knew the basic trope thanks to the title and was so on board. While the basic ideas of werewolves and packs are similar to the genre, there was a lot of different twists and takes on the tropes and setting that kept it feeling new and fresh. I honestly wasn't sure where the story was going a couple of times because I was so entranced and transported. I absolutely loved Killian's mate and really enjoyed how the dynamic between him and his wolf and Una and her wolf were so different. I found it so interesting that there wasn't one cohesive way to interact with your wolf and that there were different teachings. I don't know, it just was so interesting.

I do have to say, Killian's grovel is so good. The way he just constantly is there for Una and trying to build the mating bond back between them. It was so much fun and really sweet. I also loved that we got to see beneath his cold persona and how he felt he needed to perpetuate that personality to keep the pack in line. There's conflict with the way the old-timers ran the pack and moving into a more modern society. I just really, really enjoyed this a lot. I also do want to mention that this did feel a lot more grittier than the paranormals I've been reading lately, but I wouldn't really say it's dark. Just more of the grittier vibes.

If you are looking for a paranormal and/or werewolf book that feels different, definitely check this out. When I first picked up this book, it wasn't marked as being part of a series on goodreads. When I got to the end though there was an author note that book 2 was coming soon in the Five Packs series. Since it's been a bit since this came out, The Heir Apparent's Rejected Mate comes out soon on April 22nd! I really enjoyed Cate's writing once again and will definitely be looking into more of her backlist moving forward.

Have you read The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate, Cate C. Wells, 5-stars, 1 day, eBook, 320 pages, published in 2021, indie published

Nice Werewolves Don't Bite Vampires by Molly Harper

⭐⭐⭐⭐

With two prompts left to fill the first bingo board of the Winter's Kiss reading challenge, one was starts with the letter N. When I went through my kindle and goodreads tbr, I found Nice Werewolves Don't Bite Vampires by Molly Harper. This is the 8th book in her Half-Moon Hollow series. This series is a favorite of mine (with the Jane Jameson series this spun-off of) and I was so happy to find there was another book released. I knew as soon as I saw this that it was the book I wanted to use to fill the prompt. Plus it gave a bit of variety during another contemporary binge.

Tylene is the cousin to Jolene and the outcast in the local werewolf pack. While the pack is very old school, she escapes to work her day job as a social media marketer. When she's working late at the library one night, she runs into new vampire in town Alexandre. He has recently moved to town (thanks to his two best friends settling down with their wives) and has become the new music teacher. As Tylene struggles to come to terms with separating from the pack and be upfront with her family about falling for Alex, he and his friends get targeted by a rogue vampire thought dead decades ago.

It was so nice returning to Half-Moon Hollow. I loved how much time we got with our previous characters like Jane and Dick. They just accepted Tylene into their makeshift family without question and I loved the found family aspect. There's something that's just so cozy about Molly Harper's writing to me and I loved just checking in with all of our friends from before. I loved the connection between Tylene and Alex. It was heartbreaking to read how Tylene's mother and father treated her. Even worse since she still loved them and was having a hard time reconciling their treatment with what would be best for her. It took longer than I would've liked, but I loved that once she fully made the decision to move from the pack, she was all in.

This got four stars just because it didn't completely blow me away. This was nice and cozy and I loved it, but it didn't push the envelope or hit me fully emotionally; especially compared to earlier books in the series. It also was a little bit predictable, but it didn't curb my enjoyment at all. I really need to work on getting through Molly's backlist and get caught up in the rest of her series. She's one of my favorite paranormal authors and I can't recommend her enough. Please check her out, even more so if you're looking for a lighter and less gritty paranormal series.

Have you read Nice Werewolves Don't Bite Vampires?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Nice Werewolves Don't Bite Vampires, Molly Harper, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 242 pages, published in 2020, indie published

Walking In A Witchy Wonderland by Juliette Cross

🍎🍎🍎🍎🍎

I've been saving Walking in a Witchy Wonderland for my Christmas Eve read. This is listed as book 3.5 in the Stay a Spell series by Juliette Cross and is an anthology with 5 short stories! I am going to do five mini summaries for each story and follow with my thoughts as a whole! I was able to use this for the Winter's Kiss full length novel prompt. I also used this for the Banging Through the Snow prompt book that blends holidays.

Bewitch You a Merry Christmas

The first short story takes place shortly after Wolf Gone Wild (if I remember correctly). We see Alpha/Mateo wanting to spend some alone time with Evie but with family parties and holiday plans, she's always busy. Then Evie helps out a man that's been hexed by his witchy neighbor and Mateo accompanies her. Quick thoughts: Quick, sweet, sexy and I always love me some Evie and Mateo/Alpha.

Rockin' Around the Hexmas Tree

The second short story takes place shortly after Don't Hex and Drive. After a white elephant gift exchange with the Savoie sisters, Isadora ends up with a gorgeous ornament. When Devraj and Isadora have higher libidos than normal, they come to find out that the ornament has a love (really lust) spell! Of course it was meant to go to Violet for her to put up on their little tree at her tattoo shop with Nico. Quick thoughts: Even more sexy and Devraj can always get it.

Jingle Bell Jock

The third story is more novella length and really the bulk of the novel with about 100 pages. It takes place during Witches Get Stitches. We've met best friends Charlie and JJ they are part of the Savoie family. JJ is one of the head bartenders at their bar and Charlie is there a few times a week. When they go to a New Year's Eve party, JJ sees Charlie kiss a new boyfriend and suddenly finds it time to confront his feelings. When a few of the sisters talk with both JJ and Charlie separately letting them know that they belong together, JJ and Charlie both have to get past the fear of rejection and possibly losing their best friend. Quick thoughts: So heartwarming and the mutual pining was fantastic. It's Juliette, so there's so great scene and I love morning after shower scenes. Always so intimate and sweet!

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grim

The fourth short story takes place during Witches Get Stitches as well. Later on in that book we see Lavinia having issues with a grim called Gareth. This story is the prelude to their book and part of their first encounters. It's not their first meeting, but I think the 2nd and 3rd. They are competing to win a PR opportunity for a charity. Quick thoughts: I'm even more excited for Always Practice Safe Hex which should be out in June! I loved seeing more of Gareth and can't wait!

Jingle Spells

The final, and sweetest, story is for Nico and Violet from Witches Get Stitches. I can't remember which book, maybe their, but this story is set 2 years later. We get a hint that Evie might be pregnant earlier in one of the other stories and here we see Nico and Violet babysitting for the first time for Evie and Mateo! They had triplets and are about 15-months old. Quick thoughts: Is it too soon to ask for a spin-off for Savoie 2nd generation? But super sweet and with a little bit of steam!

Oh my gosh, I loved getting back to all of our couples from Stay A Spell and seeing some cute stories. I also loved getting to see JJ and Charlie get together and the teaser for Gareth and Livvy. I can't wait to read more from Juliette. She's one of my favorite authors and such a sweet person. I know I've raved about her before, but seriously, check her out. If you mainly read contemporary and aren't really into paranormal or fantasy, this is a great option to try. It's such a great blend with rom-com feels. Plus Juliette knows how to bring the steam. I can't wait to read more!

Have you read Walking in a Witchy Wonderland?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Walking in a Witchy Wonderland, Juliette Cross, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 292 pages, published in 2021

Pleasures of Christmas Past by Lexi Post

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With the craziness of getting things wrapped up for Christmas, I went a few days without reading. When I finally had a chance to read a little before bed, I wanted to pick up something shorter and that would work for one of the two prompts I had left for Banging Through the Snow. One of the ones left was Snow Monster! which is a wintery non-human main character. There was the usual wintery animal and reindeer shifter books you see a lot of this time of year, but then I remembered seeing Pleasures of Christmas Past by Lexi Post. This is the first book of her A Christmas Carol series. I was also able to use this for the got for free prompt for Winter's Kiss.

Jessica has graduated from training to be a ghost of Christmas Past and is assigned her first case. As a social worker when alive, she is very excited to continue her line of work as spirit. Since it's her first case, she's assigned a mentor to watch over and help right anything that goes wrong. The mentor assigned is Duncan, a sexy Scot from the 1800s. They are both attracted to each other, but try to focus on the job. To make things even higher stakes, their are tasked with helping Holly, their boss's widow.

I really struggled with rating this. I feel like I'm going be sneaky and go with 3.5 stars but rounded up to 4 (since I technically read this in 2021 and hadn't started my new rating system yet). There was a lot that intrigued me and kept me engaged. I found the spirit guide system really interesting and wanted to learn more about it. We focus here on the Christmas Past spirits and there's just a little discussion about the other two existing. I also wasn't quite sure what to think about the way the magic(?) works. Some of it was overexplained and other parts weren't.

I also didn't quite feel the tension between Jessica and Duncan. It was steamy and the words were there, but it just felt more physical I guess. I just don't think I completely believe that they are going to be together forever in the afterlife. To get a little more positive, I liked the discussion of grief and regret and just coming to terms with your life. I think a lot of it was smartly dealt with, but at the same time there was also a little too much. We had to deal with the issues of Duncan and Jessica on top of them trying to help Holly and in a way their boss Cameron as well. I also wasn't quite happy with how Cameron was okay with pretty much ruining Jessica's view on her own life. I feel like he could've handled it better and not at the same time of putting both Jessica and his wife's souls at stake.

There's a lot that kept me interested in the story overall and I might pick up more books in the series. It didn't quite meet everything that I was wanting/expecting, but I'm also intrigued to see how Lexi's writing might evolve as she gets further in. It's not at the top of my list, but I'm glad I tried it. It definitely fit my mood better than the other options I was looking at.

Have you read Pleasures of Christmas Past?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Pleasures of Christmas Past, Lexi Post, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 216 pages, published in 2015

Bite Me, Your Grace by Brooklyn Ann

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Time for another book I found looking specifically for books that would fill open spaces on my Bang in the Night Bingo. Bite Me, Your Grace by Brooklyn Ann is the first book in her Scandals with Bite series. It's a paranormal historical romance series! What's funny is I found this on a list with characters that have pet cats. This not only covers that prompt, but also a shocking twist, bite me and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for Bang in the Night. I also used this to cover the Fall in Love board 2 prompt published before 2021. I also read this during the Smutathon and it covered the prompts paranormal, vampire, new to you author and supernatural main character.

Angelica is being pushed by her mother to land a titled gentleman for a husband to receive support from her grandfather. All Angelica wants to do is become the next gothic author. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has recently come out and Angelica is a huge fan of her and her mother's writing. Her neighbor Ian, the Duke of Burnrath, lives in the perfect house to fuel Angelica's haunted mansion story. When see sneaks in one day to take a look at the place, she ends up hurting herself. Ian comes to her rescue and Angelica quickly finds that the rumors about Ian being a vampire are in fact, not rumors.

I was pretty excited for this book. I've read quite a few paranormal historical romances and a lot of them tend to be more heavy on the historical than paranormal. This was the complete opposite and I did enjoy that aspect. This was definitely more of a paranormal romance that had a historical setting. This book was touch for me to come to a decision on rating. I was thinking 4-stars, but after finishing and thinking on it for the night I decided to drop it down to 3-stars, maybe 3.5. There was just so much that left me wanting more.

While I can and do enjoy the more bluestocking debutantes, Angelica really bothered me at times. I feel like the information about Mary Shelley and Lord Byron was too much for my liking. A reason why I love historical and paranormal is for the fantastical feelings that evoke. Here it was almost based too much in real history that it kept taking me out of the more paranormal elements. It's kind of hard for me to put into words, but I just felt like a lot of different things fell short. The steamy scenes were okay words wise, but they didn't feel very steamy. I wasn't a fan of so many conflicts between them. Sometimes Angelica made decisions that didn't make sense to me. Yes she's fighting back and wanting to do what she wants, but I feel like in the beginning she at least had some common sense on what was too much. She did the actions anyways, but she at least had moments of guilt for how her actions were going to effect her parents and had second thoughts. Once her and Ian got married, it all went out the window.

Also, I really wanted Ian to confront her grandfather. He was a horrible person and I wish that more was done with him. Angelica's mother was odd. I liked her as an overbearing mama, as much as you can like one of those, but I felt like her opening up to her daughter was too quick and not in the right part of the story. Things like that just felt almost like the author had a checklist of things they wanted to include. There was too much going on and added in. Another thing that we didn't need, the backstory of the vampire hunter. Okay, give us his POV a couple of times to amp up the suspense, but I don't need him reminiscing about how he became a vampire hunter. If he's one of the villains that's just going to be killed (sorry, spoiler), I don't need to really get deep into why he's a vampire hunter. And even then, it seemed like he was just someone pious that had anger issues. There was nothing like a vampire killed his family.

There was some lead up to the next book in the series, and I'm intrigued by some of the other vampires we met, but I don't know if I'm going to continue the series. I like to give authors more than one chance, but if I do pick up more it probably won't be for a bit. I just was let down by the way that things developed. The bones were good and there were some good parts, it just kept falling short in different areas. I know that authors evolve though, so I'm not putting her on my no interest list. We'll see if and when I pick up another one.

Have you read Bite Me, Your Grace?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Bite Me, Your Grace, Brooklyn Ann, 3-stars, 3 days, eBook, 352 pages, published in 2013

Jack by Layla Fae

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Checking my goodreads for new releases a few Mondays ago, I saw a friend had recently read and loved Jack by Layla Fae. With a little inspiration from Nightmare Before Christmas, I knew I had to pick it up. I was able to use this to cover the Fall in Love prompt published in October. Jack also covers the prompts a dark, dark and stormy night, pumpkin on cover, I put a spell on you, published in October, it's a sign, deal with the devil and #beastmode for Bang in the Night Bingo. Also, I read this during the Smutathon and used it to cover paranormal, takes place on Halloween, monster, 2021 released, novella, new to you author, read in one sitting and supernatural main character.

Suzy is complete another tarot reading about love with good results for her client. Feeling single and alone, she yearns for a love of her own. Or even a good bed partner. After being led by the cards, she summons her destined lover. What shows up is a monstrous jack-o-lantern, there to give her all the pumpkin loving she could want.

This is exactly what it sounds like. A quick smutty read about a weird jack-o-lantern monster man and a lonely, horny older woman. This was just enough ridiculous to be fun. 4-stars is fine for what it is. As I've mentioned before, I rate things differently based on what they are and my emotions. What made it not a 5-star for me was the push for them to get married and have and firm HEA. I feel like this could've worked fine as a HFN or even a straight erotica with no romance. Although, I did really enjoy that his "cream" was pumpkin spice flavored. As a basic person that loves pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavorings, I couldn't not love it!

If you are looking for a quick and steamy Halloween read, look no further. I enjoyed the writing style. She has two other books that have been published and I'm particularly intrigued by The Orc's Bride. It's a longer novella at around 150 pages. We'll see what I end up reading next!

Have you read Jack?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Jack, Layla Fae, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 48 pages, published in 2021

Paranormal Romance Readathon Wrap Up

 Happy Monday!

I hope you enjoyed the first full week of October! Now, before we get too much into my wrap up I do have a little announcement. I mentioned it before, but for the time being I am going to be switching to three days a week. My reading is really slowing down here lately. There may be more posts added from time to time, but I will at least have posts Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays moving forward. On to the wrap up!

This past weekend was the Paranormal Romance Readathon! It was hosted by Jess, Lacey and Lisa. I didn't get too much time to read, but I was able to reach my goal of 3 books. Granted 2 were on the shorter side. I also wanted to branch out, but I ended up just reading more Kate Daniels as you'll see below. I was pretty busy this weekend, but my mood has been a little off lately. The only thing I wanted to read was Kate Daniels, so that's what I did. Below is my completed bingo board. I'll link to my reviews once they are posted!

1. Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews - Covered the prompts series, fated mates and shifters

2. Curran POV by Gordon Andrews - Covered the prompts series, fated mates, novella, indie published, shifters and black cover

3. Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews - Covered the prompts series, fated mates, ghost, novella and shifters

I am so happy to be reading more of Kate Daniels and don't know if I can wait until next month to continue the series. I do need to try to tamp down on some of the books for the Fall in Love and Bang in the Night Bingo challenges, but we'll see what happens. Hopefully next year it'll run a little longer and I can get more varied reads in!

Did you participate in the Paranormal Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Love in the Night Round 3 Wrap Up

 So we come to the end of another weekend readathon. This past weekend was the third round of the Love in the Night Readathon. It's hosted by Shae, Crystal, Izzy, Stef, and Laura. Shae mentioned there might be a live video this upcoming weekend, but I haven't seen anything posted yet. I could've have missed it.

So I went into this weekend with the best intentions. My goal was 3 books, easily doable especially with the readathon lasting through Monday. Friday night, I didn't get the chance to read. I had looked earlier in the morning for an audiobook to listen to at work, but none of the shifter romances I wanted to read were available in my library apps. Okay, no worries, we still had all day Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, I again did not pick up a book. I ended up starting a new project that morning and by the time I sat down in the afternoon, I just wanted to zone out. I ended up half-watching some soap tutorial videos on YouTube, thank you Royalty Soaps. Do I make soap? Nope. Do I want to make soap, not particularly. I do enjoy Katie's videos and how positive she is. I haven't stayed up to date on most of the youtubers I try to follow, so kind of went on a binge.

Sunday started out with my normal chores, made pancakes for breakfast (and the week). I finally got a chance to read about 12 noon, just a couple hours before the Bronco game. I managed to read the book I started that night and was able to cram in a novella Monday night during and after the Avalanche game. So I only read 2 with my goal having been 3, but that's okay. I read two books I really liked and didn't want to force myself to read something when I wasn't in the mood. But let's shift gears. My minor wrap up is below!

1. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews. This covered the scavenger hunt clues fated mate, alpha male, what big teeth you have and shift, baby shift!

2. Magic Mourns by Ilona Andrews. This covered the clues fated mate, what big teeth you have and shift, baby shift.

Just two books, but for a busy weekend I'm still happy that I was able to at least read these two. The third book I had planned was to just pick up a shifter book (since those seemed to cover all the clues better), so I don't feel too bad about not meeting my tbr. The two books I had to read this weekend, were done. The reviews will be linked as they are posted! I'm a little sad it was only a weekend long readathon, but with so many other events happening, I'm just trying to pick books that cover prompts in each one.

Did you participate in the Love in the Night Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Paranormal Romance Readathon

Update: Wrap Up is posted!

The Paranormal Romance Readathon is back! It's hosted by the lovely ladies that also do the Historical Romance Readathon, Jess, Lisa and Lacey! I participated in this readathon last year and really enjoyed it. This year they are following suit with the Love in the Night Readathon and hosting for just a weekend as well. It'll be next weekend, October 8th-10th. There is a mini bingo board (below). I actually have plans that weekend on Saturday and Sunday morning, so I might start it early on Thursday and maybe run through Monday. It all depends on if the plans come to fruition (family is potentially coming in from out of state).

Since it's a smaller board and novella is the center, I'm hoping to read at least two books, one a novella that would also cover at least one other space. Heck, maybe I could cover almost all of the prompts with one! Below is my idea list and hopefully I can get to a couple of them! Now, I have active tbr/idea lists for Fall in Love, Bang in the Night Bingo and the Love in the Night Readathon. There are a few duplicates between those three, so I'm going to try to list something different here, but any of those books could also work for these prompts. Also, since I stuck to mainly shifters for the Love in the Night Readathon, I'll try to go with other paranormal creatures here, although a shifter or two may sneak their way in!

🎃 Jen, The Book Refuge, has a discord and hosts a buddy read. She took a couple months off, but is back this month. She did a poll and the book that won was Hollow Heathens by Nicole Fiorina. I have never heard of this book before, so I do want to try to read it this month.

🎃 A novella I heard a lot about last year was Halloween Boo by Sarah Spade. It sounds super cute and I feel like there aren't too many ghost romances out there.

🎃 A new find for me is Frozen by Meljean Brook. Another pen name for her is Milla Vane, the author behind one of my favorite fantasy romance series. I want to read books under this penname from her and hopefully can get a chance to get to this one soon. It looks like it incorporates Norse mythology, so I'm not sure if it's paranormal or fantasy, but I'm certainly intrigued.

🎃 A series I haven't started yet but want to try out is the Dark Sorcery series by Cheyenne McCray. It's a witch based series and used to be called Magic. I guess the books were re-edited or something and the series retitled.

🎃 Another new to me series is also a new series that started earlier this year by Susanna Allen. The first book is A Wolf in Duke's Clothing and is both a historical and paranormal romance!

🎃 Another series I haven't started yet but have heard good things about is Kristen Callihan's Darkest London. This is also a historical and paranormal romance series and the first book is Firelight.

🎃 A new release that came out at the end of September is The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling. I've heard its a lighter and fluffier paranormal. It's also a second chance romance, which I'm not the biggest fan of, but the blurb sounds cute.

🎃 Finally, I have another Molly Harper book. I know I've mentioned her a lot lately, but one book I haven't mentioned is her stand-alone Better Homes and Hauntings. I still haven't read it yet and it also has ghosts, just not as a main character.

Another weekend readathon and another long list. There's just too many paranormal romances I want to read. When used to read back in high school and college, outside of my romantic suspense phase, I mainly read paranormal if I was picking up a romance. There was a lot on my tbr at that time, and having kind of moved away from paranormal there is quite a bit that I still haven't gotten to or missed completely. I feel like next year I want to try to spread my reads across genres a little better on a monthly basis, but I'm mostly a mood reader. We'll see what happens!

Are you participating in the Paranormal Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Forgotten Storm by A.R. Vagnetti

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So the next book I picked up was Forgotten Storm by A.R. Vagnetti. This is the first in her Storm series and also her debut novel. I applied this read to Fall in Love for the starts with F prompt. This also covers the Bang in the Night Bingo prompts a shocking twist and bite me.

Nicole used to dream about a man named Logan that fulfilled all of her fantasies. Two years ago, the dreams ended. After being on the run for years, she is starting to feel an itch that she can't stop. Suddenly Logan shows up, not only is he real but he's a vampire. He brings Nicole's forgotten memories from her youth and soon she learns she's the key to a century-old prophecy to bring down her father, the vampire king Dimitri.

So, before we get into my thoughts on the book, I want to talk about how I found this. A.R. Vagnetti is actually a friend of my Aunt Rowie! She came to town a couple months ago for a high school reunion and we were able to see each other a couple days. One night we were talking about books and when she heard I read paranormal romance she said her friend writes it. She also said it had sex (and that she skipped it since there was so much), but I didn't mind. I immediately bought the first book and added the other three books to my cart. The paperback was actually cheaper than the eBook, so I ended up buying a copy of it. When I was looking through my long tbr on goodreads for books that started with F and were paranormal or adjacent, I totally had spaced about this book. Which is crazy because I had reorganized my paranormal and fantasy shelves the day before.

I didn't know too much before going into this outside of it being too steamy for my aunt. I have to say, I liked it. Now, it was good and I liked a lot of the elements. The writing style was a little odd to me. I'm not sure what exactly it was, but sometimes I would just think, that was an odd transition. Even though I though it was good, it wasn't quite as engaging. It was very easy for me to put it down. I just wasn't quite as pulled into the story as normally happens. Once the plot starting really going I was expecting to be a little more engaged, but there were some choices made by the character that kept pushing things back. There are quite a few things I can get nitpicky about. The biggest issue I had though is that it felt a little over plotted. There were almost too many twists and/or setbacks and character points. I feel like it needed paring down a little bit. That is an issue I've seen before from indie-published author debuts. They just aren't quite there to self-edit for streamlining of the plot and want to just throw everything but the kitchen sink into their book. This led to me disliking Nicole the further we got in the book. When we got to the big battle at the end, I almost didn't really care if she made it through or not. It was a solid 4-stars for a debut novel, but some choices started getting made around the 200 pages mark that I think I'm going to drop it to a 3.5 and just round up on goodreads. I just wasn't emotionally invested in the book overall.

I'll definitely pick up the other books. I'm super sad that one character I wanted a book for ended up dying in the battle. There were some teaser for other couples. I also want to see how she grows as an author. There's a lot of good and unique world building here, I just wish that it was more engaging. We'll see when I pick up the next one!

Have you read Forgotten Storm?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Forgotten Storm, A.R. Vagnetti, 4-stars, 3 days, paperback, 312 pages, published in 2020

Remembering a Witch by Lauren Connolly

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Saturday night I was doing a little bit of organizing of my bookshelves while on the phone. I ended up pulling my paperback copy of Remembering a Witch by Lauren Connolly to read. I ordered this last year for a readathon, but never got to it. This is a standalone novella. It was inspired by the #justiceforfenella. The hashtag was created by the Heaving Bosoms podcast when they reviewed The Highlander Takes a Bride by Lynsay Sands. It ended up being a two-parter and one of my favorites of their episodes. They just crack me up when they go completely off the rails! I was able to use this for the green on cover prompt for Fall in Love. This also covers the I put a spell on you and into the woods prompts for the Bang in the Night Bingo.

Fenella has been having dreams about a previous life; she is the reincarnation of an ancestor of hers, Marabella. Her dreams have been the memories of Marabella and her love Henry. While walking her dog at the local college campus, Fenella runs across a new professor Graham, who is the spitting image of Henry. They are both drawn together, but is their love truly theirs?

I really enjoyed this novella. I do wish it was a little longer, but only because I loved it. The way that Lauren set up the magic system was really intriguing and I wanted to learn more about both Fenella's and Graham's magic. I also really enjoyed how she was able to enter the previous memories/dreams and witness what happened in the past. I also loved her familiar Daisy, the sweetest little pit bull. There was a time jump in here, but I feel like with how short it is it made sense. We also get to see that they've been together six months and it helped the book not feel rushed.

I'm certainly intrigued to read more and am so happy that I was able to find Lauren through Heaving Bosoms. Also, she apparently here in Colorado, so that's always fun too! I love supporting authors from my state. I hope that Lauren writes more in this world, whether it's extending Fenella's and Graham's story or not. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on her socials in case she writes anything else.

Have you read Remembering a Witch?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Remembering a Witch, Lauren Connolly, 4-stars, 0 days, paperback, 70 pages, published in 2019